248 
THE BRITISH NORTH BORNEO HERALD. 
[Aug: 1, 1892. 
Inspector Jones who has been on duty to Labuan 
and West Coast returned to head-q^uartors in the Kor- 
manbi/ on July 7th. 
On the evening- of the 7th July the Nornianhij ar¬ 
rived, and the news by her conHrnied the report as the 
wreck of the Roualid and the loss of the mails. By the 
Nonnanhy Mrs. and Miss. Shaw arrived as also Mr. 
Kalfsterman from Singapore. The Nonnanhy left for 
Celebes early on tlie morning of Jul^‘ 9th. 
The s.s. Poh A.nn arrived from Singapore and La¬ 
buan on July 8th and left for Sulu on July 9th, return¬ 
ing on the 25th and left for Singapore on the same day. 
A Sandakan correspondent of the Straits Times 
complains in tliat paper of the neglected state of the 
Sandakan Cemetery. He says much discontent has 
long been felt, and lately has been freely expressed at 
the disgraceful condition in which it has been kept”. 
This may be so, but our first intimation of the fact is 
contained in the letter from the Times correspondent. 
The correspondent omitted however to mention that the 
repairing and general restoring of the said Cemetery has 
been for some time previous to the date of his communi¬ 
cation under the notice of the Government; and since 
June 17th convicts have been at work on it daily, so the 
place has now been be put in proper order. It may also 
interest the Times correspondent if wo intimate that vo¬ 
luntary contributions for the purpose of the Cemetery 
upkeep are and will be ‘'thankfully received ”. If the 
correspondent has not yet volunteered Ids dollars, now 
is his chance. Verb Sap. The Commissioner of Lands 
informs us that the fees received in the Land Office on 
Cemetery account amount to but 5 from 1888 to date. 
Hence the necessity for voluntary contributors. 
We see from the Straits papers that ILM.8. Hya¬ 
cinth has gone to Hongkong wdiere she will be paid off. 
H.M.S. Mercury has taken her place in the Straits. The 
Mercury was in Borneo waters in March 1891. 
“It is RUMOURED that Mr. E. A. Swettenham, 
C.M.G., the Resident of Perak, will not return from his 
leave of absence to Europe until the close of the year, 
and that it is then probable that he will not stay long ”. 
{Penang Gazette). 
“ At the date of last mail advices. Lord Brassey 
had given notice to call the attention of the House of 
Lords, on an early day, to the administration of North 
Borneo under the British Protectorate”. 
The following items of interest as regards shipping 
appear in the report of Mr. H. Parker ILB.M.’ Consul 
Hoihow:—“ At first sight British shipping would appear 
to be in a minority 1 to 12. The following, however, 
are the real facts;—Out of a total of ^2,048 tonnaa-e 
dues collected, British shijjs paid the half, or, to bo quite 
exact, 48-20 per cent. Out of 8,870 Chinese emigrant 
passengers taken direct from Hoihow to Singapore and 
Bangkok, over 8,900 were taken by British steamers. 
which means a freight list of at least £7,000. Of the 
5,054 return coolies brought back direct from Singapore 
and Bangkok, it is estimated that 4,500 were brought in 
British steamers, which means another £5,000, as the 
return fares are usually heavier than the outgoing fares. 
(It is remarkable that it costs more to go to and from 
Hoihow, from and to Singapore, than between Amoy 
and Singapore via Hoihow.) 
“ The direct imports from England, consisting of 
2,000 tons of Portland cement for the new forts, were 
brought by a British steamer, with a (probable) freight 
of £8,000. Morever, 2,500 coolies were brought back 
from Singapore and Bangkok in British steamers 
which do not figure in the Customs . return at all, 
f 
on account of such steamers not having broken bulk at 
Hoihow. If these steamers had, as occasionally hap¬ 
pened with other British steamers doing exactly the 
same work, happened to remain in port over 24 hours, 
or had taken in coal or pigs, there would have been 86 
British entries, all over 1,000 tons each, instead of 24; 
and 35 British clearances instead of 23. 
“The total net profits made on the Hoihow 
trade by the two Frencli mail steamers counting 
as 84 entries and 34 clearances fall well within 
£2,000. The total charter moneys paid to the one 
Danish and two German regular coasters together for 
the year fall within £15,000; and the three Dutch, 
Danish, and Norwegian owners combined, and, at the 
very least, £15,000 freights paid to British shipowners. 
In other words, disregarding deceptive figures, and go¬ 
ing in a business-like way to the root of the matter, 
nearly half the freights were paid to, and half .the 
tonnage dues paid by, British owners, who usually made 
money on their transactions; while several, if not all, of 
the Chinese charterers of the German and Danish ships 
positively lost money, notwithstanding the fact that 
nearly all the steamers were chartered this year at 20 
per cent, or 25 per cent, lower rates than last year, and 
while the owTiers barely paid running expenses. 
“ I find, on carefully examining the shipping lists 
in China, that there are very few British steamers in 
the Far East with a tonnage lower than 1,000 tons, 
whilst, of seventy-five German and Danish steamers, 
only twenty are over 1,090 tons measurement, and of 
these twenty, five are mail steamers running to Europe. 
It appears that at least 10 per cent, of the total number 
of German steamers in existence are to be found on the 
coasts of Cffiina, though, of course, this does not mean 
that 10 per cent, of the total German tonnage is found 
there, too.” 
The following answer to a correspondent takei 
from the Melbourne Leader may prove of interest to ou 
readers.—“ Doubt. The Australian saurian is a cro 
codile, not an alligator. Those saurians which are foum 
in the rivers of Australia and on the coast line of Poly 
iiesia are true crocodiles of the,, Ganges type. Tffi 
mr. 
